Aug 2 Trump's America

I'm 47 years old. I've been politically aware since I was 10. I've seen a lot of elections. I've seen many men and women who probably shouldn't have run for office not only running, but winning. However, I have never seen anything like Donald Trump.

The easy thing to say is that he's Hitler. Except he isn't. Hitler had a cunning evil to him. Trump is merely the expression of the idiotic, hateful id which is the Republican base.

There's nothing he won't say. When he is pricked, he will lash out as if he's been mortally wounded. And in a way, he has. His ego won't allow for any contravention, any criticism. Any attack has to be met with the full force of his bile.

Any normal politician, when confronted by Khizr and Ghazala Khan, would have said "While we disagree, I thank the Khans for their sacrifice." And left it at that, letting the story fade away. Not Trump. He has waged a days-long jihad against the Khans, one that continues as of the writing of this piece. He avers that he has made sacrifices. He questions the Khans' loyalty to the country. (Losing a son in its service isn't enough, apparently.)

And, as the tweet beginning this piece shows, Trump is not alone in his vitriol. He has given voice to those put upon by a changing country. A child is learning hate from his elders. This is the wreckage which Trump will leave behind after he is pummeled in November. It will be a landscape strewn with resentment and animus. I don't envy Hillary Clinton in her work to heal a nation divided by a petty demagogue.

It's been said before, and I'll say it again. Trump and the GOP need not only to be defeated, but to be politically castrated so that their like never rises again in this country. Trump is a joke; the next iteration of xenophobic nationalism might be a bit smarter, and able to lead the rabble with his siren song. The GOP in this form needs to be excised root and branch; it's no longer a political party, but a death cult.

This election isn't about Clinton vs. Trump, or how Democrats fare in the generic Congressional ballot. It's between an America of love and one of hate. This is the third act of the play which began in 2008. Everything will be resolved this November.